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Trump Executive Order Directs Major Study of U.S. Defense Industrial Base

President Trump has directed the Pentagon to work with other agencies on a deep-dive analysis of the defense industrial base. The White House called it a “groundbreaking” effort to look at U.S. manufacturing capabilities from a broad national security perspective.

Trump’s executive order issued Friday is titled “Assessing and Strengthening the Manufacturing and Defense Industrial Base and Supply Chain Resiliency of the United States.” Its release was timed a day before the president will attend the commissioning of the U.S. Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford on Saturday. The Pentagon for years has sounded alarms about gaps and “weak links” in the shipbuilding industrial base as many suppliers have gone out of business or moved operations overseas.